Devil’s Deck

The scene is from a movie “ The Queen of Spades “ (1910, Russian Empire) based on the 1834 short story by Alexander Pushkin. Lyrics translated into English The devil’s deck is short But it contains 13 aces Red and Black For you, doomed to play Red Ace is a Quick and Noble death From the artery the scarlet stream of blood Runs over the rocks in the rays of the sun A coward knows that crimson aces Are usually at the top of the Satan’s deck There are 7 of those – let them wait The coward and the devil have similar approaches To the game This scoundrel crawls lower Among triplets, sevens In thinner cards he feels more comfortable Hiding his carcass And waiting for the ace of clubs That is hardly a worthy fate A hard drinking and purulent card The very long last hour spanning across generations In darkness Among 3 times 13 cards In Beelzebub’s deck there are no Jacks or Queens No Kings there No